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Committee forwards cash-grant contract and approves $300M-plus in reserve releases for housing and health
Summary
The Budget & Appropriations Committee voted June 23 to forward a $14.9M cash-grant agreement with the San Francisco Community Health Authority to the full Board and to release $68M for public-health facility acquisitions and $232.4M in Prop C funds for housing acquisitions and prevention programs.
The Budget and Appropriations Committee on June 23 voted to send a $14.9 million contract for pandemic-era cash grants to the full Board and approved releasing more than $300 million in city reserve funds to public-health and homelessness programs.
The committee moved item 3, a resolution authorizing an agreement between the San Francisco Community Health Authority and the Department of Public Health (DPH) to formalize a cash-grant program for City Option enrollees, to the full Board on July 13 with a positive recommendation. Chair Matt Haney moved the motion; Vice Chair Safae seconded. The roll call vote was recorded as five ayes.
Greg Wagner, chief operating officer for DPH, said the cash program—which provided up to $500 per City Option enrollee to help people meet pandemic-related expenses—has been implemented under the mayoral local emergency. Wagner told the committee the resolution changes bookkeeping so the funds flow through city accounts and the city will use a grant to pay the health plan rather than deducting funds from plan-held balances.
The committee also heard and approved item 4, a request to release reserves: $68,000,000 for DPH to acquire and renovate facilities and beds and $232,400,000 for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) for one-time housing acquisition and prevention interventions. Jenny Louie, DPH finance, said the $68 million was placed on reserve last year pending a spending plan and will be used for one-time facility and bed acquisitions. Gigi Whitley of HSH detailed the Prop C allocations: $54.4 million for permanent supportive housing for the general population, $73.8 million for family housing, $58.5 million for transitional-age-youth housing, $10.1 million reallocated into those housing numbers from prevention, and $45.5 million for one-time prevention, eviction-prevention and problem-solving services.
Dan Doncher of the Budget and Legislative Analyst’s (BLA) office reminded the committee that HSH had not provided a full spending plan to the BLA and characterized release of the remaining Prop C funds as a Board-level policy decision; he summarized major planned initiatives such as developing 1,500 new permanent supportive housing units and funding other navigation and subsidy programs.
Chair Haney moved to release the reserves and to file the hearing; Vice Chair Safae seconded. Roll call recorded five ayes and the motion passed. The action will be implemented through the City’s usual contracting and appropriation processes and will return to the Board as required.
The committee’s approvals were procedural steps to move contracts and reserve releases into the formal Board process; both items will be subject to further review when they appear on the Board’s calendar.
